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Fcf Staffers On Howard Sternthis Thursday

The infamous "Stuttering John" vs. "Crazy Cabbie" fight is fast approaching. The bout is set to take place at the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, NJ on May 31st and the pre-fight action is beginning to heat up.
This Thursday morning (May 16th, some time after 7:30am), Howard Stern will host a press conference between the two camps. Stuttering John is being trained by FCF staffers the Mouth of NHB and kickboxing champion Derek Panza along with Steve Weinberger (owner of Bev Francis Gold’s Gym). Cabbie is reportedly being trained by Bernard Hopkins — the undisputed middleweight boxing champ is known for his controversial antics (a riot ensued after Hopkins made disparaging remarks and gestures to the crowd at a press conference in Puerto Rico prior to his fight with Felix Trinidad — the final straw that caused the crowd to charge Hopkins was when he threw a Puerto Rican flag to the floor). Mix Hopkins’ penchant for controversy with Cabbie’s sparkling personality, The Mouth‘s quintessential New York take-no-shit attitude and the bad blood between John and Cabbie and you’ve got the potential for heated exchanges and major fireworks. Tune in to the Stern show Thursday morning for what’s sure to be one of the most memorable shows to hit the radio waves.

Tickets are on sale for HOOKnSHOOT RELENTLESS, HnS’ much anticipated followup to the March OVERDRIVE show, featuring Rogerio ‘Minotoro’ Nogueira. ‘We are developing as a company’ comments promoter Jeff Osborne, a veteran of over 40 shows. ‘With RELENTLESS, we have Yuki Nakai’s Paraestra Tokyo team back, and Japan’s SHOOTO fighters always answer the call and come to HOOKnSHOOT for tough fights. Takumi Nakayama comes to face 3x BJJ World Champion Vitor ‘Shaolin’ Ribeiro. Shaolin is the real deal – the top shelf of JJ, scouting reports on him describe a fighter with a lot of focus, hunger and heart. And he beat SHOOTO legend Rumina Sato in Abu Dhabi – so this match is getting a lot of attention in Japan!’

‘Hermes Franca and Yohei Suzuki – of course, we will see what happens because the SHOOTO commission in Japan decides these things, but I think the winner has a chance at moving to ‘A’ Class – both are really rugged, and there are a lot of people looking forward to this one as well!’ continues Osborne.

‘Scott Henze and Shiko Yamashita will also be war! Yamashita is ranked #6 in SHOOTO, and Scott is #8 – so this match has repercussions in the rankings – and with Scott being the hometown fighter, Shiko knows he comes to the Lion’s Den, so to speak.’ states Osborne.

‘The title match is a real skillfest. Some may criticize us for giving Travis Lutter a title shot in his MMA debut, but Travis is incredibly talented, and by winning two ADCC Qualifiers here at HnS, he has a lot of fans here who KNOW about him. And he wanted a challenge right off the bat! In Chris Monsen, we get a guy who will definitely come to grind. He finds a way to win, and is tough on anyone he fights. He just won a kickboxing title, and has wins over ‘Cacareco’ Ferreira and Dave Menne. The title will be well represented by either man’ describes Osborne.

‘We are psyched ATT’ers Jeff Monsen and Dustin Denes are on the card. With Conan & Marcello Silveira and Ricardo Liborio instructing, that team is going to make some noise. I expect Dustin to challenge for the 205 lb. title someday, and Monsen is world class already! The whole card is looking to be stand out!’ concludes Osborne.

This coming Saturday, the New England area will host RING of FURY, the first closed fist event for this group. Nine Mixed Martial Arts bouts are scheduled for an explosive evening! These will be the first ever fully sanctioned ‘closed fist’ event in the history of the state of Massachusetts. Comments by promoter Tom Hafers "we have done a lot of work with the boxing commission, with local advertising and with a state of the art arena. We have laid the groundwork for a very positive first show – everything’s done but the fights – we cannot wait!"

Tickets for the event are on sale at the Tsongas Arena box office, all Ticketmaster locations or charge by phone at 617.931.2000. www.ticketmaster.com for TICKETMASTER on the web! Group discounts are available by calling Joanne at 978-848-6906.